Gun numbers have rapidly increased, 3D-printed firearms are routinely seized by police and one state is on the verge of enshrining a ‘right to hunt’ in law
I
t was lunchtime on a Sunday in April when Martin Bryant pulled out a semiautomatic rifle and killed 12 people in 15 seconds within the close confines of the Broad Arrow cafe in the historic site of Port Arthur, Tasmania.
The 1996 massacre, which went on to claim the lives of 35 people and wound another 23, prompted an unprecedented overhaul of Australia’s gun laws.
“It means that this country, through its governments, has decided not to go down the American path,” then prime minister John Howard said as he pushed through a new national firearm agreement with the states.
